'Fraid so, it was a run of only 2396 copies so looks like you missed out.

Of course, compared to the limited run of the new Dylan box set, 2396 copies would be practically saturating the market.

I think the McCartney issue has to be Paul himself choosing it. I will say that live take of that song is energetic, those horns are terrific, and it is the version most people who are not hard-core Macca collectors would recognize. They play it on oldies radio, it's the single version.

It was the single version in the States, anyway.  In the UK, the studio version was the single, and is accordingly on all of the compilations.

I don't really ever listen to this one
10. Mama Says

To skip one minute of a 24-minute album must surely constitute the definition of "short of time".

I agree with Ian. I remember SU having a very good rep at release and SDT was not reviled and TALOYF was accepted as BB goofy.

The more I think about back then, Carl was seen as the hero of SU. Feel Flows and Long Promised Road where the stand outs [maybe Disney Girls to a lesser extent] that got people excited. Dennis was not really on peoples' radar and wouldn't have made any/much difference I think. Anybody else have a different experience/memory of the time?
...
Maybe my memory is out of whack but I don't remember SU being the big deal of SU. It was more like a venerated resusitated zombie but FF and LPR were the lively desirable jewels and Carl's modern production was the honored achievement.

Is this purely a memory of the "community" response, or do any of the contemporary reviews back any of this up?  The first one I found online, from Rolling Stone, devotes a quarter of its length to the title track ("dazzling almost to ear-blindness"), notes the absence of Dennis songs in the first paragraph, dismisses "Feet" in one sentence and says the lyrics of "Student Demonstration Time" are "embarrassing".  Carl's songs are praised but not singled out especially.

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/surfs-up-19711014

I'm thinking Stan Polley from Badfinger.

Holy cow.  The mind boggles.

It's half a good album. The production is really starting to kill it for me, even on the best tracks. Damn you, Joe Thomas....

Amen to that; I can't get past the autotune.  I think of TWGMTR as equal in quality to the 1985 album: some good songs, some not-so-good songs, but all fatally hamstrung by the same error of judgement, namely the adoption of the vogueish production techniques du jour.  If the premier vocal group of the rock'n'roll era needs that much artificial assistance to make a competent record (which they really don't), then I have to wonder what the point is.

(I loved the three new tracks at Wembley though.)

I've always loved this song from 1959:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkXvYEeiGoA

Not only is there prominent harpsichord throughout, but at 0:51 there's an absolutely ridiculous harpsichord solo that you should all listen to and enjoy right now.

Sail On Sailor sung by James Brown, Otis Redding, Ray Charles???

I think that Ray acquitted himself rather well on it, myself.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dWzSPf0Y30

Fixed that for you.

Given how often the Beach Boys have blurred the line between group and solo projects in the past, both on stage and on record, I think you've been a bit over-zealous with your strikethroughs there.  It would be a shame to omit a recording as unique as "Don't Fight The Sea", for instance, simply because it appeared on a solo album.  (And while I assume that Alex's list only took studio recordings into consideration, what of group live performances of solo tracks?  I don't think it would upset too many people if a good live version of "River Song" from the mid-'70s turned up in a nice mix on the box set.)

And it breaks my heart to see "You're Still A Mystery" crossed out.  I recall you casting doubt on its release elsewhere (oh look, it was here: http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,14160.msg325400.html#msg325400) but surely something of such obvious importance and quality should at least be considered.  I'm sure ownership issues can be resolved with a bit of negotiation and / or chequebook action; I for one don't mind paying a few quid more for my box set if it means that they can get some of the stuff from the "slightly awkward" pile out there.

[Sunflower]

Sunflower- title a bit boring and wimpy.

The late Milt Jackson wants a word.

Ram is one of my all-time top-five favourite albums ever, but the reissue is just a reissue of an extraordinarily good album with a few lacklustre bonus tracks added.

With respect, sir, I don't think you can reasonably call "Rode All Night" lacklustre.  It's got more nervous energy than anything else in Macca's entire catalogue!

Great stuff there from Matt Bielewicz.  I'm not normally a big fan of these rank-the-tracks / make-a-list-of-some-Beach-Boys-songs threads, but that was a superb rundown, and one with which I almost completely agree.

Dolphin bites girl at Orlando Sea World (with slightly inappropriate Beach Boys content):
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2012/dec/03/dolphin-girl-orlando-seaworld-video

The 73!live double album was the recorded culmination of the band's maturity as a rock act. I hope we gets a big bite of live recordings from that era in the box. Imagine Mess of Help live, eh? Wouldn't THAT be nice?

I'm totally with you on this.  In Concert is without doubt my most well-played Beach Boys album and I'd go quite silly over a whole hunk of contemporaneous concert recordings.

Smell My Beard.

Dear Mike's Beard,

I have always taken delight at this signature.  The only way in which it could be improved would be to precede it with: "Can I say this?"

Best regards,
Theydon Bois

PS I love all of these albums too.  HTH.

You know what, Mr P, I think it's actually a melodica. You hear it on several tracks on Smiley, whatever it is. The scary echo-repeated dischordant note in Wind Chimes (before the 'ting-urr-ling' section) is played on the same instrument. I don't think it's a clarinet, though I could be wrong.

... was the correct answer, all along.

1) Immediately drowning again, thanks to having been buried at sea.
2)
3)
4)
5)

Brian Wilson made Cool Water Cool.

I would argue that even though the first three "Best of the Beach Boys" albums are certainly inessential, they should remain as part of the Beach Boys canon.  Otherwise, 20/20 would be 17/17.

I'm not sure that making all of the numbers add up is such a big deal in a world that contains 1976's "15 Big Ones", 1993's "Good Vibrations: Thirty Years of the Beach Boys" and 2012's "50 Big Ones".

[TheydonBois]

*edit* oh, ps, cool user name by the way, TheydonBois - I was born in Epping, that's just up the road from me!

Oh, thanks!  We should totally form a band called the Theydon Boys.

As an aside, I wonder what Mike is thinking when the Pet Sounds tunes get more applause than Kokomo, which completely destroyed the momentum from where I was sitting. Wibn and sloop, gok and I just wasn't made for these times got the biggest cheers of the night!!!

Agreed, Kokomo definitely destroyed the momentum.

Yeah, no-one was going for it where I was sitting either.

On the other hand, Al singing the wrong opening line to "Then I Kissed Her" (and having a second go at the end of the song, apparently so he could get closure on it) was a beautiful moment.

Crumbs, that was emotional.  Brian smiling at Mike during "Add Some Music" winded me.

Love said that he sees recording and touring as separate matters, and that his decision to return to touring without Wilson, who is his cousin, or Jardine and Marks, who started the Beach Boys when they were teenagers growing up in Hawthorne,  wouldn’t preclude more recording together. “I’d be interested [in making another album] if I could write some songs with Brian,” Love said.

Whether it was Mike's intention or not, the conditionality of that statement is pretty jarring.

I would highly, highly recommend listening to the instrumental backing tracks on the MOFO Project set that feature Wrecking Crew members playing alongside the Mothers. Without the vocals, one would swear they were 65-vintage Brian Wilson or Jan Berry tracks.

I can't believe I've never heard these.  Can I find these tracks on the 2-CD version or the 4-CD version of the MOFO Project release from 2006?

4 disc set. One of the greatest sets I have ever heard.

Is there anything on the 2-CD set that isn't on the 4-CD set?

Yes, sadly.  It's mostly duplication, but there are bits and pieces of unique material.

Both versions are still on sale, new, from Zappa.com's Barfko-Swill shop:
http://barfkoswill.shop.musictoday.com/Product.aspx?cp=971_8837&pc=ZPCD76
http://barfkoswill.shop.musictoday.com/Product.aspx?cp=971_8837&pc=ZPCD78

... and also from G&S Music in the UK:
http://www.gandsmusic.com/ZappaRecords.htm

This photo of a Frank Zappa session was included in the article, and I thought it was worth sharing here. I'm guessing it could be from the Lumpy Gravy sessions, but I'm hoping someone with more knowledge of the Zappa session history can fill in or correct the details.

The mighty United Mutations website to the rescue:
http://www.united-mutations.com/b/dennis_budimir.htm

Dennis Budimer was a part of the Abnuceals Emuukha Electric Symphony Orchestra in 1967 when Frank Zappa recorded the orchestral parts for "Lumpy Gravy".
He provided guitar.

According to Carol Kaye, he also played 12-string on "Freak Out". However, the album credits, and the session sheets from the Musicians Union don't support her story.

Good old Carol Kaye.